Little Rock paper scissors printed stock listings

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, which had been one of the last papers in the country to print a full stock listing in its business section, is now cutting those pages.

Sean Beherec of Arkansas Business writes, “The newspaper has published repeated notices that it plans to reduce those listings and better tailor them to match reader preferences. Daily readers of the paper are familiar with the full-page listings, which often make up the bulk of the business section.

“Managing Editor David Bailey said that since announcing the plans, the newspaper has received about 120 phone calls asking for a collection of about 800 stocks and mutual funds to remain in print. He said the newspaper missed the originally planned start date for the changes, Feb. 18, because information was still being compiled.

“‘We’ll still be running far more stocks than most other newspapers in the country are,’ Bailey said. And stock listings that don’t appear in print will be available online.

“Bailey said the newspaper began running about 20 pages of listings per day in its electronic edition late last year, which it plans to continue.

“Bailey said the newspaper expects to save a few thousand dollars per year on newsprint costs, but that the change also allows for later deadlines. Previously, the section would have to go to press at or before the close of the business day to be formatted, but will now have deadlines more in line with the rest of the newspaper’s content, he said.”

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